Inflated ball



M. B. REACH INFLATED BALL Aug. 13, 1940.v

Original Filed April 2, 1936 2 stasis-Sheet 1 awe/whom:

wlili'on B.Reach,

Aug. 13, 1940. M. B. REACH 2,211,669

INFLATED BALL Original Filed April 2, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Qwucntoc:

Patented Aug. 13, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SEP 1 6 1941 RenewedJuly 15, 1940 16 Claims.

The object of this invention is to provide a leather covered inflatedball to relatively exact specifications without recourse to the use ofheavy expensive leather for its strength and sustaining qualities and topermit the use of economic units of leather whereby small panels can beeasily fitted to the rounded surface of the ball and suitably united andsecured against l o the wear and action of the ball in play.

-uneven wall thicknesses, occasioned in a prior method by the turned-inedges of leather or fabric or both in the'ordinary stitching operations,to insure a more even rebound from impact at different parts of theball. I

Another object is to avoid the weakness resulting from the use ofstitching in fabricating the body of the ball.

Another object is to provide reasonably cheap 2o leather covered ballsthat will retain form and size with the use of leather from the poorerparts of the hide, which parts ordinarily are subject to stretch anddistortion under common methods of use. I

One common practice of making inflated balls of the class herein.referred to consists of cutting out from the best parts of the hide (forthe good balls) panels of leather of correct pattern, lining thesepanels with fabric backing, machine stitching the panels together insideout, leaving an opening large enough to reverse the ball through,thereafter closing said opening, with hand stitching or lace, followingthe placement of the bladder.

These methods call for careful selection of material with a considerableby-product resultant from the cutting thereof which may be absorbedincheaper inferior playing balls or used in another class ofmerchandise.

I propose to overcome the objections of present day manufacture by thefollowing novelmethods which I have selected as possibly yielding themost uniform results without recourse to highly skilled labor.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a view of a part of the ball struc ture built upon a form ofwax, the view being partly in elevation and partly in section.

. Fig. 2 shows another stage in the process, only a portion of the ball,as thus far formed, being shown, and this being in section, the wax formhaving been removed from the interior of the ball, as thus farcompleted. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing Anotherobject of this invention is to eliminate a subsequent stage in themanufacture of the ball.

Fig. 4 is a view similarto Figs. 2 and 3 showing theflnal stage in themaking of the ball as having been completed.

Fig. 5 is an elevation of the completed ball.

First I place in a suitably designed mould sufficient hot wax to form ahollow ball I with walls approximately thick. Thereafter I cover thiswax with a thin coat of rubber or similar gum. Upon that I layIaininations of textile fabric 2 of suitable pattern and size, saidfabric being impregnated or coated with rubber or similar materialcapable of bonding the parts together. This fabric may be in the form ofstrips or panels overlapping or crossing each other and cementedtogether. This fabric is laid firm and tight on the wax ball, all ofwhich are of uniform mould. Thereafter I cut a hole or slit a in thefabric of about one inch in extent and through the wax, through which ispassed a steam nozzleand the wax is melted out for reuse leaving auniformly formed fabricated foundation member. At this stage I insertthe (bladder member b with its valve and I then close the hole or slitin the case with a suitable patch. This patch is applied by the use of avulcanizing cement to reinforce this part of the ball from the strain ofinternal pressure. .Due to the overlapping of the various fabric parts arough uneven form results. a

I therefore cover this foundation member'with a thin sheet of rubber 3and subject it in a mold to a quick forming cure during which the rubberflows and fills the uneven parts. This produces a smooth rubber surfacedball ready to receive its leather veneer 4. This veneer orouter layer orcovering consists of leather pieces, preferably three or more in number,selected for color and weight, all pieces being split or skived to evenand standard thicknesses, which are now laid on the rubber surface, saidsurface being prepared with a suitable cement, the inside surface andedges of leather pieces being likewise treated. The pieces of leatherare butted edgewise closely one to another. The covered ball is nowplaced in a mold for its final moulding operation and all parts of thewall integrally bonded together under pressure and moderate heat.

The leather pieces may be skived to produce bevelled edges which may berolled down in bonded relation with the underlying rubber sur face. Thisis not claimed herein but forms the subject matter of my copendingapplication Serial No. 203,915, filed April 23, 1938.

aassuro The invention is not limited to the specific steps mentioned.Thusinstead of ironing the leather pieces onto the foundation by amolding operation, this can be done by the application of external airpacks. Nor do I limit myself to the specific kind of initial removablebase upon which the textile material is fabricated to produce thefoundation as a removable ball like base other than wax may be employed.

I do not limit myself to the use of woven textile fabric. The fabric isrelatively non-stretchable.

Any desired form of filling valve may be used. It has the capacity toclose automatically when the filling nozzle is withdrawn after the ballhas been inflated.

Access to the valve is had through an opening in the patch andsuperposed layers of rubber and leather.

Briefly stated the method involves the following steps.

The application of textile fabric pieces in more or less overlapping orcrossing relation to the rubber or similar gum coated surface of ahollow form of wax, said laminations being impregnated with material forbonding them together; cutting an opening or slit in said textile walland the wax form; melting out the wax by a steam nozzle introducedthrough said opening; inserting a bladder through said opening andinflating it, said bladder having a self closing valve of any knownform; placing a reinforcing patch over the opening in the said fabricwall, except for a small opening necessary to allow access to be had tothe valve; applying a coating to the rough or uneven surface of thelaminated or built up textile wall capable of filling the depressions insaid wall and of producing a smooth exterior surface; subjecting theball as thus far produced to a quick forming cure in a mold to make saidcoating flow for producing said exterior surface; and then cementingleather pieces in edge to edge relation to the said smooth exteriorsurface of the inflated foundation, in a molding operation underpressure and moderate heat to integrally bond said leather pieces to thefoundation wall.

The coating of rubber which is applied to the fabric foundation,desirably, may consist of sheet rubber in the form of two cups, which,while of general hemispherical shape, are slightly short of reaching tothe true equatorial line, or, in other words, are spaced apart slightlyat their adjacent edges, and are connected with each other by a centerband of rubber overlapping the edges of the cups.

I claim:

1. The hereindescribed steps in a method of producing an inflated ballconsisting in building up a textile wall of the ball upon aform,.reducing and removing the material of said form through an openingin the said wall, inserting a bladder through said wall opening into theball thus far formed, applying rubber material to the exterior of saidtextile wall, vulcanizing the ball thus far formed in a mold to unitethe rubber material to the textile wall and produce a smooth evenexterior surface, then uniting leather panels v with the rubber exteriorof the ball by heat and also to the exterior of the patch, substantiallyas described.

3. Steps in a method of making an inflated ball comprising applyingunsewn pieces of textile material outside out to a substantially rigidform together with bonding material to provide a textile carcass,reducing and removing the material of the form from the carcass, andinserting a bladder in its place and inflating the bladder against theinterior of the carcass, curing the carcass and applying a cover to thecarcass.

4- Steps in a method of making inflated playing balls comprising formingan unsewn carcass with a substantially unstretchable wall includingtextile fabric applied outside out, together with bonding material upona rigid form, reducing and removing the material of said form through anopening in the carcass, curing said carcass in a mold, and thencompleting the formation of the ball by cementing a cover on the carcassand subjecting the ball to a molding operation under pressure andmoderate heat, substantially as described.

5. Steps in a process of making an inflatable game'ball comprisingbuildingan unsewn carcass by applying laminations of textile materialand bonding material upon a substantially rigid integral form ofreducible material and of a predetermined size and shape, in an assemblyto produce a composite non-stretchable flexible wall, reducing thematerial of said form and removing it through an opening in saidcarcass, sealing the opening to resist internal pressure and preventdistortion of the wall at this point and curing the components' of thewall into a substantially homogeneous body, substantially as described.

6. Steps in a method according to claim 5 together with the additionalstep of cementing cover material in unstitched sections to thenonstretchable carcass which previously has been inflated to receivesaid cover material.

7. Steps in a process of making an inflatable ball according to claim 5in which the initial layer of textile material is laid in an adhesiverelation to the form to prevent slippage of the initial layer in saidrelationship.

8. Steps in a process of making an inflatable ball according to claim 5in which the initial layer of textile material is laid in an adhesiverelation to the form and each succeeding layer is laid in adhesiverelationship one to another to prevent any disturbance or change ofrelationships as initially established in the assembly operations.

9. Steps in a process according to claim 5 in which the layers oftextile material overlap, applying rubber to the uneven surface of theoverlapping layers and molding for making said rubber flow to provide aneven exterior surface and applying cover sections to said surface,substantially as described.

10. Steps in a process according to claim 5 with which a bladder isemployed to inflate the carcass, said bladder having been insertedfollowing the removal of the reduced material composing the integralform.

11. Steps in a method of making an inflatable game ball .comprisingbuilding a non-stretchable carcass of laminations of textile fabric laidupon a rigid form. of fusible material, melting the form and removingthe melted material from the carcass through an opening therein,applying a patch to said opening to close the same, inflating thecarcass to the shape and size it acquired 75 from the rigid form, andcementing a cover of pieces of sheet material to the carcass and overthe patch thereof, substantially as described.

' 12. Steps in a method of making an inflatable game ball according toclaim 11 in which the first lamination of textile fabric is securedadhesively to the fusible form and the subsequent layer or layers arebonded to the first layer, substantially as described.

13. Steps in a method of making an inflatable game ball comprisingbuilding a non-stretchable carcass of textile fabric upon a hollow rigidform of homogeneous inaterial, reducing the material of the form to acondition for the removal of said material from the carcass, through anopening therein, closing said opening by a patch cemented in place,inflating the carcass to the limit determined by its non-stretchablecharacter to the shape and size acquired from the rigid form, andcementing pieces of sheet material to the carcass and over the patchthereof to form a cover, substantially as described.

14. Steps in a method of makingan inflatable game ball according toclaim 13 in which the first lamination of textile fabric is securedadhesively bonded to the first, the reduction of the material of theform separating it from its adherent relation to the carcass,substantially as described.

15. Steps in a process of making an inflatable game ball consisting inapplying a coating of adhesive material to a rigid form, which form is aof material capable of reduction, building a carpass by applying textilematerial to the form to be held by said adhesive material againstslippage, during the building operation, said textile material havingassociated therewith material for bonding it into a homogeneousnon-stretchable wall, reducing theform and removing its reduced materialfrom tne carcass as built up thereon, inserting a bladder through anopening in the carcass, closing the opening, inflating the bladder,vulcanizing the carcass and cementing cover pieces to the exterior ofthe carcass and over the closed opening, substantially as described.

16. A process according to claim 15 in which after the cover pieces areapplied to the carcassthe ball is subjected to pressure and moderateheat, substantially as described.

MILTON B. REACH.

